Taro's Blog

Betel Nut Beauty (檳榔西施) is a term used to describe young women who sell betel nut leaves on the roadside in Taiwan. The betel nut leaves are addictive and keep you awake. Typical customers are male taxi drivers and truck drivers. After their consumption, they spit the red fluid on the road. It’s disgusting. Betel Nut Leaves (or Kratom Leaves) contain Codeine, a chemical commonly used as cough medicine in East Asia. Today, Codeine is used as a recreational drug in the United States thanks to globalization.

According to this YouTube video, the Americans drink less alcohol and misuse more prescription drugs, such as Opioids and Benzodiazepines. It also mentioned that the UK and Australia follow the US trend.

One unique characteristic of Japanese society is that it is often left behind in global trends, or lapped in a circuit. The Japanese laws still prohibit people from using cannabis (marijuana). Recently, Suntory’s chairman, Takeshi Niinami, was forced to resign due to allegations of cannabis usage.

While prohibiting cannabis and online casinos, the Japanese people still drink hard and openly smoke cigarettes in public places compared with Americans, the Pomies, and Aussies. We Japanese people often jokingly describe Japan as “a Galapagos Island, culturally.”